


Don't Let Go

by breeisonfire



Series: TAG prompt fics [14]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-11-09 04:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeisonfire/pseuds/breeisonfire
Summary: yllamse asked: "You need to wake up because I can't do this without you." Alan with your choice?





	1. Chapter 1

_Stupid, stupid, stupid, should have known this was going to happen, shouldn’t have let him go, stupid._

Alan’s eyes are closed, his breathing shallow and too fast. Scott’s tried taking Alan’s pulse more than once, but he’s shaking too much, too close to the edge to focus. He’s painfully aware that they’re sitting ducks, easy pickings for any stray pieces of debris that are still flying around from the explosion.

Thunderbird Three’s gone dead. Communications, propulsion, navigation, they’re all down. Life support is still running by sheer dumb luck, but Scott’s not sure how to fix it. He’d learned once, a long time ago, but - he can’t _remember_.

His head is pounding and his arm is numb from where it’d collided with what looked like a piece of a console when he’d gone EVA to bring Alan back to Three. Scott’s not used to Alan’s board, but he’d managed. He doesn’t quite remember what had happened after he’d hit his arm, but they’re back in Three’s cockpit, so somehow he’d got them both out of the debris field.

“Alan, come on,” Scott’s voice is hoarse and unsteady. A lot like the rest of him. “You need to wake up, because I can’t do this without you.”

_This_ , as in _get out of here_. _This_ , as in _face our family._

_This_ , as in _survive._

Scott’s brothers are all amazing, skilled rescue workers and they’re as equally good at getting themselves out of trouble as they are getting into it. He knows their job is dangerous. He knows one day one of them is going to run out of luck. He knows that any time he sees one of them, it could be the last time. It’s a terrifying thought and he’s had to fight hard to not let it rule him. Faced again and again with his brothers being close to death, somewhere he can’t reach them, keeps him awake at night.

But Alan’s in his arms, and Scott was right there, and it still wasn’t enough. Alan’s dying, right here, right now, and Scott can’t do a damn thing.

The beeping of a comm scares him so bad he nearly sends himself and Alan flying towards the ceiling. It’s John, because it’s always John, but it’s audio-only.

“Thunderbird Three, are you there?”

“John,” Scott gasps, realizing just how panicked he really was. His head is foggy and he can’t think straight. “John, it’s Alan, he’s hurt -.”

“Scott,” John interrupts, and it’s his ‘reassuring the victim’ voice. Scott’s too out of it to get annoyed at it. “Help’s on the way, Ridley’s on her way with some of the others on her station. They’re about five minutes out. Just hold on, Scott.”

Scott’s not the problem here, or at least he thinks he isn’t, though the way the world is starting to get distant is means he might be shortly. _Alan’s_ their priority, but Scott can’t make his tongue work to tell John that.

John’s talking again, but Scott can’t hear him. He can’t hear anything past the buzzing in his ears. The world’s gone dark around the edges and he’s pretty sure Thunderbird Three wasn’t moving a moment again, but now it feels like they’re spinning in circles and he’s falling backwards despite the zero gravity.

He squeezes his eyes closed against the colors. Whatever he’s holding onto is keeping him from flying off into space, but it’s almost too much work to keep holding on. Something in him tells him not to let go, that whatever he’s holding onto is important, even as the world goes dark around him.

_Don’t let go_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By popular demand, I wrote a second chapter from John's POV. Tada!

It’s been three minutes.

Three minutes since EOS registered an explosion. Three minutes since Thunderbird Three went completely dark. Three minutes since John had lost communications with Scott and Alan.

Alan had been EVA, trying to enter a ship that he hadn’t been able to dock with, while Scott had been not-so-quietly worrying in the cockpit. There’d been an abnormal surge of energy onboard the other ship.

Alan had been mid-sentence.

John has to force himself to stay focused and present in the moment as he says, “EOS, can you restore communications?”

“I will try,” EOS says.

John grits his teeth against the wave of demands he wants to make, for her to not just try but actually _do_ it. He knows that isn’t fair. He knows he’s just scared.

He presses the heels of his hands to his eyes and forces himself to calm. He has to plan. Even if EOS does manage to get the signal back, Three is dead in the water. He can hear Brains still trying to troubleshoot remotely, but Three’s not responding to anything. They can’t even see if life support is working, or if there’s been any breaches.

Scott hadn’t had his helmet on.

_Not helpful_ , he scolds himself. This is a _rescue_ mission, not a recovery mission. Not yet. He refuses to think of that.

Three’s dead in the water and Alan is undoubtedly injured. He needs a way to get to him and Scott and transport them to safety, but they’re out of rocketships and the pod on Five won’t be enough. Not to mention he doesn’t have the capability of getting them down in time for any medical treatment they might (definitely) need.

It comes to him a second later. _Global One_.

He’s already hailing them before he realizes what he’s doing.

“International Rescue to Global One.”

It’s Ridley who answers, clearly knowing something’s wrong. John’s not surprised; they’re close enough their scanners probably picked up the explosion, too. Alan had mentioned flying by them earlier. She probably already suspects what’s happened.

“John, what’s going on?” she says, cutting past the niceties, and John’s grateful.

He has to take a second to breathe first, forcing the panic down as far as he can. “I need your help.”

Ridley nods. “Anything.”

“It’s Thunderbird Three. It’s Alan and Scott.”

It doesn’t take much to get Ridley moving. She and a few of her crew leave almost immediately, and John’s never been much of a praying type, but he sends up a few words to whatever deity might be listening.

_Please let them be okay_. _Please let them be alive_.

His thoughts are interrupted by EOS.

“Excuse me, John, but I have located a signal coming from Scott’s suit and have boosted it,” she says.

John doesn’t waste a moment, forcing his voice to be steady and calm as he says, “Thunderbird Three, are you there?”

“John!” it’s Scott, and his voice is possibly the best thing John’s ever heard in his life. Even so, something’s wrong. “John, it’s Alan, he’s hurt -.”

“Scott,” John has to interrupt him, because Scott doesn’t sound like Scott right now - he sounds young and hurt and panicked. John doesn’t know what’s happened, but for the moment, he needs Scott as calm as he can get him. “Help’s on the way. Ridley’s on her way with some of the others on her station. They’re about five minutes out. Just hold on, Scott.”

Scott doesn’t respond. John can still hear him, though, panicked breaths coming through the comm, and he knows Scott’s too out of it to be much help.

“EOS, can you get me his vitals? Or Alan’s?”

“Negative,” she says, and she sounds annoyed by this fact. “There is damage to both suits and I cannot access the information.

“Scott,” John says. “I need you to tell me anything you can. What’s your situation?”

Scott mumbles something, but it’s unintelligible. John takes a silent, steadying breath, and says, “Repeat, Scott, I didn’t catch that.”

Scott doesn’t. He doesn’t say anything. John curses, just as Ridley hails him. She unfortunately catches him mid curse. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything about it.

“We can see Thunderbird Three,” she says instead.

“EOS established contact with Scott,” John says. “He’s alive, he’s in the cockpit and it sounded like Alan was with him. He’s not going to be any help, he’s too out of it.”

“Understood,” Ridley says. “But John, we can only handle so much. I’ve got two paramedics with me, but this,” she trails off.

“I know,” John says. “I’ll contact the GDF, they should be able to help. Just, Ridley, they’re -.”

He has to cut himself off. He can’t keep going down that path, he has to stay calm. He can’t let the panic get to him. Not right now, not when Scott and Alan are counting on him to keep it together.

Ridley seems to have gotten the message anyway, because her face softens, and she says, “I know, John. We’re nearly there.”

“F-A-B,” John says. It’s all he can say.


End file.
